sonyfandomcom-20200213-history
Total Recall (1990 film)
Total Recall is a 1990 American science-fictionaction film directed by Paul Verhoeven, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rachel Ticotin, Sharon Stone, Ronny Cox, and Michael Ironside. The film is loosely based on the Philip K. Dick short story "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale". The film tells the story of a construction worker who suddenly finds himself embroiled in espionage on Mars and unable to determine if the experiences are real or the result of memory implants. It was written by Ronald Shusett, Dan O'Bannon, Jon Povill, and Gary Goldman, and won a Special Achievement Academy Award for its visual effects. The original score composed by Jerry Goldsmithwon the BMI Film Music Award. With a budget of $50–65 million, Total Recallwas one of the most expensive films made at the time of its release,4 although estimates of its production budget vary and whether it ever actually held the record is not certain. Cast * Arnold Schwarzenegger as Douglas Quaid, a construction worker who discovers that he is actually a secret agent formerly named Carl Hauser, and travels to Mars to uncover his true identity and why his memory was erased. * Rachel Ticotin as Melina, a beautiful woman seen as the partner in Quaid's Rekall memory program who turns out to be a resistance fighter seeking to overthrow Cohaagen. * Sharon Stone as Lori Quaid, Quaid's seemingly loving wife who is later also revealed to be an agent sent by Cohaagen to monitor Quaid. She is Richter's wife. Lori is shown to possess various martial arts skills (she is able to nearly fight Quaid to a standstill, and also gives Melina a vicious beating), as well as being proficient in the use of knives and firearms. * Ronny Cox as Vilos Cohaagen, the corrupt and ruthless governor of the Mars Colony and friend of Hauser who stops at nothing in the mining of turbinium ore which places innocent people at risk. * Michael Ironside as Richter, Cohaagen's chief lieutenant. He is domineering, sadistic, and has a seething hatred for Quaid stemming from a grudge against Quaid for sleeping with an undercover Lori. He relentlessly tries to kill Quaid several times, defying Cohaagen's orders to take him alive. * Mel Johnson Jr. as Benny, a taxi driver and mutant on Mars Colony who befriends and later betrays Quaid and the mutants to Cohaagen. * Marshall Bell as George and as the voice of Kuato. George is a member of the resistance who has his brother Kuato, the resistance leader, attached to his abdomen. Kuato helps Quaid unlock the secret to his past and the mystery of a reactor built by an ancient Martian civilization. Kuato seemingly has clairvoyant powers. * Roy Brocksmith as Dr. Edgemar, who tries to talk Quaid into taking a pill which he claims would break him (Quaid) out of his fantasy and restore him to reality. Quaid executes him with a pistol upon discovering he is in league with Cohaagen. * Ray Baker as Bob McClane, a Rekall manager and sales agent who convinces Quaid to buy an "Ego Trip" memory implant. * Michael Champion as Helm, Richter's acerbic right-hand man. * Rosemary Dunsmore as Dr. Renata Lull, the lead memory programmer at Rekall who initiated Quaid's memory implant procedure that triggered his outburst in the lab. * Robert Costanzo as Harry, Quaid's workmate who is revealed to be an agent sent by Cohaagen to monitor Quaid on Earth and later had his neck snapped by Quaid when he and his henchmen tried to apprehend him. * Marc Alaimo as Captain Everett, a Captain of the Mars Colony security force. He does not get along with Richter. Everett orders his men to arrest a disguised Quaid on Richter's orders, but Quaid escapes. * Dean Norris as Tony, a disfigured mutant who knew Quaid on Mars as Hauser, and dislikes him. * Debbie Lee Carrington as Thumbelina, a dwarf mutant who fought against Richter's mercenaries with Tony * Lycia Naff as Mary, widely known as the Three-Breasted prostitute Production The original screenplay was written by Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett, the writers of Alien, who had bought the rights to Philip K. Dick's short story "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale" while Dick was still alive. They were unable to find a backer for the project and it drifted into development hell, passing from studio to studio. In the mid-1980s, producer Dino De Laurentiistook on the project with Richard Dreyfussattached to star.5 Patrick Swayze, who had recently starred in Dirty Dancing, was also considered for the role.6 In 1987, it was announced that De Laurentiis would make the film as the first production for his DEG company at the new De Laurentiis film studios on the Gold Coast, with Bruce Beresford to direct from a screenplay by O'Bannon and Shusett. This version of the film was never made.7 David Cronenberg was given the script by De Laurentiis which in his opinion had a great start but as it went on, he felt that O'Bannon and Shusett did not know what do with the story. Cronenberg described his work on the project as constantly fighting and eventually falling out with Shusett: "I worked on it for a year and did about 12 drafts. Eventually, we got to a point where Ron Shusett said, 'You know what you've done? You've done the Philip K. Dick version.' I said, 'Isn't that what we're supposed to be doing?' He said, 'No, no, we want to do Raiders of the Lost Ark Go to Mars. Cronenberg intended to cast William Hurt in the role and envisioned the film as "Spider goes to Mars". Shusett claimed that another reason why Cronenberg quit the film was because around the time Dreyfuss was involved, the director wanted to go on a different approach and in Shusett's words, was "suddenly against his own ideas" after some disagreements.8Although he went uncredited in the final version of the film, Cronenberg originated the idea of mutants on Mars, including the character of Kuato (spelled Quato in his screenplay).9 When the adaptation of Dune flopped at the box office, De Laurentiis similarly lost enthusiasm for the project.10 The collapse of De Laurentiis' company provided an opening for Schwarzenegger, who had unsuccessfully approached the producer about starring in the film. He persuaded Carolco to buy the rights to the film for a comparatively cheap $3 million and negotiated a salary of $10–11 million (plus 15% of the profits)1112 to star, with an unusually broad degree of control over the production. He obtained veto power over the producer, director, screenplay, co-stars, and promotion. Schwarzenegger first personally recruited Paul Verhoeven to direct the film, having been impressed by the Dutch director's RoboCop(for which Schwarzenegger was considered for the title role). By this time, the script had been through 42 drafts, but it still lacked a third act. Gary Goldman was then brought in by Verhoeven to work with Ronald Shusett to develop the final draft of the screenplay.6 The director also brought in many of his collaborators on RoboCop, including actor Ronny Cox, cinematographer Jost Vacano, production designer William Sandell, editor Frank J. Urioste, and special-effects designer Rob Bottin.13 Filming Much of the filming took place on location in Mexico City and at Estudios Churubusco. The futuristic subway station and vehicles are actually part of the Mexico City Metro, with the subway cars painted gray and television monitors added. The interior of the metro stations Chabacano and Universidad and the exterior of the metro station Insurgentes were shot.14 Rating The film was initially given an X rating. Violence was trimmed and different camera angles were used in the over-the-top scenes for an R rating.4 Soundtrack The score was composed and conducted by Jerry Goldsmith, and 40 minutes of it were released by the Varèse Sarabande label in 1990.15 Ten years later, the same label released a "Deluxe Edition", in chronological order with additional cues that were left out, totaling 74 minutes.16 As with several Goldsmith scores, the music was performed by the National Philharmonic Orchestra. The score has been hailed as one of Goldsmith's best, especially as heard in the deluxe edition, and commended for its blend of electronic and orchestral elements.17 Reception Critical response Total Recall debuted at number one at the box office.18 The film grossed $261,299,840 worldwide. It received an 82% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 66 reviews, with an average rating of 7.3/10. The site's critical consensus states "Under Paul Verhoeven's frenetic direction, Total Recall is a fast-paced rush of violence, gore, and humor that never slacks."19 Metacritic rated it 57 out of 100 based on 17 reviews.20 Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.21 Roger Ebert awarded the film three and a half stars (out of four), calling it "one of the most complex and visually interesting science-fiction movies in a long time."22 Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave it a score of "B+" and said that it "starts out as mind-bending futuristic satire and then turns relentless and becomes a violent, post-punk version of an Indiana Jones cliff-hanger."23 Film scholar William Buckland considers it one of the more "sublime" Philip K. Dick adaptations, contrasting it with films like Impostor and Paycheck, which he considered "ridiculous".24 Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chroniclesaid the film is not a classic, "but it's still solid and entertaining."20 James Berardinelli gave the film two and a half stars (out of four), saying that "neither Schwarzenegger nor Verhoeven has stretched his talents here," but added, "with a script that's occasionally as smart as it is energetic, Total Recall offers a little more than wholesale carnage."25 Some critics, such as Janet Maslin of The New York Times, considered the film excessively violent.26 Rita Kempley of The Washington Post gave it a negative review, saying that director Paul Verhoeven "disappoints with this appalling onslaught of blood and boredom."27Feminist cultural critic Susan Faludi called it one of "an endless stream of war and action movies" in which "women are reduced to mute and incidental characters or banished altogether."28 Accolades Differences from the novel *The Rekal representative, McClane, refunds half of Quail's money and sends him home. *Quail decides that his new memories are fake and that the staff just simply botched their job, and manages to get a full refund. *He returns home still believing the memories are fake, but discovers a box of fauna smuggled from Mars in his desk. *He confronts his wife about whether or not he has actually been to Mars, and she angrily leaves him. *Two armed men suddenly enter and reveal that Quail has a telepathic transmitter in his head that allows them to read his thoughts. *They then have a conversation that is both verbal and mental which leads to Quail suddenly remembering why he had his memories erased: Quail wasn't just a secret agent, he was an assassin who fought through several bodyguards on Mars and killed a political opponent for Earth's government. *With his memories returned, the armed men appeal to Quail to surrender, but Quail, with his abilities awakened as well, fights them, but flees, threatening to kill them should they follow. *Wondering what to do, Quail's former commanders suddenly speak to him through the telepathic transmitter. *Quail suggests going through another mind-wipe, but his commanders state that he will just get bored with his life and go to Rekal again or try to go to Mars. *Quail comes up with another idea, to remove his current memory of being an assassin and implant a new and amazing memory of something exciting. *His commanders agree, feeling that it is their obligation to help their former assassin. Gallery MV5BMTU3NzMyOTgwNF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwMTQ2NjU5MTE@._V1_UX100_CR0,0,100,100_AL_.jpg MV5BMTgyNzU0MzU1OV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwODM2NjU5MTE@._V1_UY100_CR25,0,100,100_AL_.jpg MV5BMTcxNjA2ODI2Ml5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwOTM2NjU5MTE@._V1_UY100_CR23,0,100,100_AL_.jpg Trivia *Arnold Schwartzeneger was in Sony Pictures Entertainment along time ago. Because Sharon Stone was in it. *The remake Total Recall has been promoted. External Links *We Can Remember It for You Wholesale title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database Category:1990 films Category:TriStar Pictures films Category:Total Recall Category:Non-Sony Category:Carolco Films Category:Films Category:Live-action films